One of the pleasures of coming to Xi’an is the chance to visit with some of the students and teachers who have participated in our exchange over the last 5 years. I always try to invite the groups who are still in Xi’an to dinner. This year is no exception. Earlier this week I ate dinner with Mrs. Fan’s group from 2007. They have just finished their studies at GaoXin No. 1 High School and when we met they were anxiously awaiting the results from the College Entrance Exam. They all looked so grown up! Kang has changed the most. Unfortunately Sijie was unable to come at the last minute due to illness. The other four students and Mrs. Fan joined me. I gave them the medals that they would have had at graduation if they had been there earlier this month. Mr. Bolde also sent one for Mrs. Fan, so the picture shows the group with me at the restaurant. Since that night the results of the exam are in. I know that at least one will have the chance to attend one of the top two universities in China! In fact GaoXin No. 1 High School earned over half of the top 30 scores in the province! It is an amazing statistic when over 350,000 in the province took the test!
The other picture is of the class of 2008. All 5 of the students visited me in our classroom during our first week here. It was great to see Max, Allen, William, Linxiao and Holly! I hope to meet them for dinner next week. We only had a few minutes to visit that day because they are having final exams this week.
On the first day we arrived I was very happy to see Elizabeth and Junyi in my classroom at noon – both wearing their Saugus tee-shirts. I saw the boys for a few minutes later, but still haven’t had time to meet them all.
2007 Exchange Group without Sijie who was sick (wearing their 2010 graduation medals from SHS)
2008 Exchange Group
Elizabeth and Junyi
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